Feelings, Nothing More than Feelings … (redux)

(This post was first published in December, 2013. It’s been awhile and I think some of you need to read it for the first time and others need to read it again.)

Anybody a fan of the movie Big? I love it when Tom Hanks sings this Barbara Streisand song to his mom to prove that he is really her missing little boy.

How does it feel to get fired? Simple – it sucks. It’s like getting punched in the stomach. Even when you know its coming it is an awful feeling. I’ve been blindsided a couple of times. The boss calls you in. You think everything is going great. Then she says, “I’m sorry but we’ve decided to make a change. We’re eliminating your position. Your last day will be …”

You don’t really hear much after that. Your head starts to swim. You feel a little nauseated. Depending on how quickly you move through the stages I wrote about in an earlier post you may get angry. You may try to plead. Your fight or flight instincts kick in and sometimes you just want to get the heck out of there.

You’re probably reading this because you’ve already been fired and know what I’m talking about. If so, then you may be wondering why I’m wasting your time recalling bad memories.

Here’s why. You need to remember what that feels like. I don’t know if you got fired yesterday, last week, or 10 years ago, but look at where you are today. You’re alive. The world continues to revolve, the sun rises and sets. Life goes on, and no matter how bad you felt when that happened, you survived.

It might have been difficult to talk about – maybe it still is. It’s always hard to tell your family – believe me I know that. But you’ll go on. Follow this blog. Read the book (soon I hope). Build a network. There are people who can and will help you.

Now let’s get busy and find you that next job.

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If you want more advice on how to write a resume, how to, network or just how to find a job, check out I’m Fired?!? A Business Fable about the Challenges of Losing One Job and Finding Another. Click here for more details.